Alec Baldwin: New ‘Page Six’ Editor ‘Needs to Work Harder’

Alec Baldwin has been coming to the Americans for the Arts National Art Awards Gala for fifteen years, and as he watched a trio of young dancers on the stage at Cipriani 42nd Street last night, he reflected back to when he was once as nimble: “I think there was one day, like, in 1984 and it was all over after that. That was my peak,” he said. Baldwin had entered the room a bit “grumpy,” according to the staffers who ushered him to his seat, but he quickly warmed up, marveling at a video about the Rodarte sisters, who were being honored that night, and jumping up as soon as the ceremony was over to congratulate them. Just last week he'd shot 30 Rock's live episode, so of course we wanted to know what was the biggest screwup of the night. "I don’t think there were any, really," he said. “They kind of made the thing easy.” He was nervous, though: "Our show isn’t a live show. We do it single camera, so that wasn’t our genre. We don’t tape in front of an audience, and everything we do is lightning-fast. So to do our show in front of an audience was nerve-racking, the audience. I don’t know what experience everyone had watching, but everyone in the room had a good time."

We also wanted to know if Betty White would be joining him in Men in Black 3, but he told us: “I don’t know if I'm going to be in Men in Black 3. Anyway, the part I’d do is very small. Barry Sonnenfeld is a friend. But they keep moving the date around. I don’t know about my part, so I don’t know about Betty White.”

And what about that "Page Six" story last week about him texting so much during a screening of Blue Valentine at the Hamptons Film Festival that an annoyed audience member started pelting him with M&M's? “The idea that anyone would throw candy at the Hamptons Film Festival is absurd,” said Baldwin as he headed toward the door. “That was a dead giveaway that they’re wrong. I was not texting during that show. The woman that’s taken over 'Page Six' ... Emily Smith. She needs to work harder.”

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